Jilljohn,

We put in Pergo over 10 years ago in our kitchen and family room areas. It was the basic, simple, inexpensive stuff. And it held up great with one very active boy (now nearly 10) dropping all manner of balls, matchbox cars and sports gear on it, and one 90 lb dog running over it for the past 8 years. We would still have it, except we decided to redo the kitchen with a different layout, so the old pergo had to go since it was installed after the cabinets. We have about half of our new Pergo in now (Elegant Expressions Handscraped Kingwood) and it is amazing. The options available now are much more true-to life with edge bevels and scraped texture.

HTH

Thanks! Hubby doesn't want tile, and wood isn't an option, so this is our compromise. It's growing on me, and we can install it ourselves, which will be more economical.

If any kind of laminate flooring gets excessively wet it will swell and will never shrink back like hardwood would therefore it usually has to be replaced.

Yep, I know that. No reason for excessive wetness, and have not had a problem since we moved here in '85. I think tile would be the only product where you wouldn't have to worry about that. Even with vinyl, water can get under it with flooding.

I put it in my kitchen 4 years ago. I do have a slight problem under the water dispenser on the fridge. I have since turned off the water. Because water would leak from the ice maker.

The best thing about my laminate floor in the kitchen is that the dog didn't like sliding on it so she stays out of the kitchen. When people came over for dinner they always comment on how well behaved she is about not coming up to the table and begging for food. I took full credit for training her (hee hee hee).

I like the look and stain resistance of it but my floor is ultra sensitive to moisture, you really have to wipe up every drop of water immediately or else the seams start to swell.

I've had Wilsonart "tile look" laminate in my kitchen and laundry room since 1999. Love it. Have had no problems with moisture and I am not Suzy Homemaker who cleans up every spill immediately.

My only regret is that when DH installed he did not pull it tight enough together and the seams are not as tight as they should be in some areas. He didn't caulk it right away and dirt got in causing dark seams to show. By the time he finished the job he had fixed this but the wider seams are front and center since that is where he started.

I believe it now snaps together eliminating that problem.

We have Pergo in our kitchen - it has been there for at least 10+ years and has been a very good investment. We have had all kinds of spills and accidents on it and the floor continues to look great.

I work in the flooring industry and have seen a lot of the tile looking laminate. Be sure you study the look of tile laminate, because the joints will be visable and not hidden by the simulated grout line. I personally don't think the tile look is very realistic, but you have other things to consider, so it may be fine for you.

We like ours very much. We have both Pergo and Wilsonart. The Pergo is the glued-together kind and we've had absolutely no problems with swelling seams. It's in the kitchen and the teenagers don't exactly hop right on it when they spill..no problems. The Pergo is actually more durable than the Wilsonart, which was more expensive. The Wilsonart is more prone to chip...there's a tiny chip where *somebody* dropped a hammer on it.

I had pergo in my kitchen & an adjoining hallway in my last house and I LOVED it! Easy to keep clean & it looked great. I think it depends on the value of the house & the neighborhood & price values. It would not have been a good investment for me to put either ceramic tile or hardwood in my last house.